A Vacation to Remember
by Tyr's Hoof
Summary: When Lemon Twist went on vacation to the island of Hocknoi, forced by his family to do so no less, the last thing he expected was to run into a beautiful mare from Ponyville and then play a fool in front of her. Yet, she seems unphased by his dorkiness and antics. What does she see in him?
1. Chapter 1

The Island of Hocknoi

* * *

The sun was bright. It always was on the tropical island of Hocknoi, giving the island its crystalline gleam. The white beaches, blue ocean and green mountains painted a picture of tranquility and beauty that no artist alive could possibly capture with a brush or a camera. Hocknoi was a fairly large island, in the shape of a bowler hat, lying flat on a blue floor, supporting a population of over two thousand, it had the capabilities to grow all the necessitates of life, crops and such.

The two most notable points in the island were the piers, which had been around for well over one thousand years with only basic maintenance, and the Hocknoi Heaven Hotel. The hotel was a marvel of the tourist world, an easy enough to impress niche, but it still stood out as a structure of pristine beauty surrounded by a sea of wooden huts, thatched roofs and sand walk ways.

Now, of no particular importance, was the _E.S.S. Paradise _pulling into port. It was a long, seven deck cruise liner, its hull a magnificent blue that could match the intensity of the ocean's own hue. The ship was the last of the tourist season on Hocknoi, just as the onset of fall came, the island would begin to quiet down, its guests gone, it would return to a more natural island. Many ponies were quickly walking down the wooden gang plank of the _Paradise, _each one talking to a family member or friend of theirs, as there vacation had finally arrived in earnest.

Lemon Twist was one of the last to step off of the _Paradise_. The wind lapped at his dull yellow coat, his short and tidy forest green mane was covered by a large, floppy sun hat that matched his coat. His azure eyes quickly scanned the island before him with a vigor and tirelessness that spoke-

"Are you just gonna stand on the plank or what?" An elderly mare asked from behind him, causing him to jump and realize he had stopped to admire the scenery only halfway down the plank that led back to dry land. He let out a weak apology and began to walk again, his head still craning around as he took in the scenery at a brisker pace. The gang plank led to the concrete docks, where it looked like not a single pier was empty, ships of every size bobbed up and down with the gentle rolling nature of the sea. Past the dock was a series of collections of homes and business, each building was made of wood, but the roofs were thatched. Lemon Twist felt a little weird about that. He was used to the metal roofs of Fillydelphia.

Twist watched the ocean for a moment, his eyes gradually drifting towards the mountains and tropical forests that made up the majority of Hocknoi, the lush green mountains, sparsely populated by the gray stone that made up its foundation. The view was breath taking. Twist shifted uncomfortably as he felt the weight of his brown suitcase on his back, and decided that he would check in at the hotel before he started acting like a tourist.

* * *

It was in the lobby of the hotel that he first saw her. The lobby itself was packed, quite a few ponies were standing about, waiting for family to come down from their rooms to begin the day, others waiting to check in. It was a wide room, its entrance and pool side exit were both a complete wall of glass, allowing for another unique and beautiful view of the islands natural grace. But he was looking at the mare who was checking in.

She was colored a unique shade of orange, perhaps a few hues lighter, or perhaps that was just the light of the glass walls giving her such a tone. Her mane was blond, long enough to be corralled into a single tail, tied together by a simple red band, flowing over her shoulder, reaching down to her leg. Atop her head was a brown cowpony hat, a stetson, a large divot cut into the front to give the hat personality. A natural inclination led him to shift his stare from her head to her flank, looking for her cutie mark, he thought inwardly. It was a simple motif of three red apples.

She turned, her business with the desk clerk finished, and with door key in mouth, turned in his direction. In the split second that she faced his general direction, he saw her green eyes. They were amazing in the intensity and calm they displayed. He was thankfully blocked from direct view by a much larger stallion standing in front of him, giving him the benefit of being able to look away while covering his face and entire body from view. Her room must have been behind him, for she trotted past, paying him nor anypony else in the line any real attention. Twist felt the want to say something crawl into him, his mind rushing to think of something in the brief second she passed.

Instead he felt his tongue swell in his mouth, refusing the will of its owner. A crimson flush of embarrassment crept over his features as a bead of sweat made its way down his temple. She was beautiful, but he felt that she was probably out of his league. And her cutie mark. She was from the Apple family. He was from the Lemon family. Two families with a bad past and a lot of bad blood between them.

"Sir, are you ready?" The desk clerks soothing voice drew him out of his stupor. He would have plenty of time to wonder about a mystery mare once he was checked in.

* * *

To take his wandering mind off the mare from the lobby for the moment, he set about sitting by the pool, on one of its many lounging chairs, a book nestled on his chest. The pool was an oval shape with a large dent on the north side, where a higher section of the stone perimeter watched over the pool. On this platform were three rows of lounge chairs, with only two of them actually filled with guests. He and a rather obese stallion, wearing an 'I love Hocknoi' shirt were the only two ponies using the chairs.

Twist focused on the book, his mind's eye creating the series of unfortunate events that had just played out for the books titular character, Hock Holiday, cowpony and dentist. He was just reaching the point of the book where the hero, Holiday, was about to be embroiled in the gunfight in the city of Graverock, when a pulling on the high back of his lounge chair drew him away, his fantasy about the cowpony suddenly interrupted. He groaned inwardly, having spent the better half of an hour trying to get his imagination in the correct mood, and blocking out the distractions of the few mares in the pool below him.

With a feeling of uncertainty and dread, he looked up, his hat getting stuck on the rough straw of the chair. His eyes widened in surprise as he recognized his assailant. It was the apple mare, her emerald green eyes transfixed on the book on his chest. Her breath caught on the front of his hat, cooling it against his skin for only a brief moment before the heat of the sun and his body replaced the cool.

In a moment of surreal horror, he knew how nerdy he looked. His floppy sun hat, the half dazed look on his face that he knew he got when he read. Worst of all, the plastic protector that lined the books spine and covered each and every page. Hello, and goodbye, beautiful mystery mare.

"Is that Gravestone?" She asked, more concerned on the book then his less then cool appearance. Her voice was full of southern flare, as the Apple Family was known to have. "Hows that even possible? It ain't out yet."

He tried to answer, but only a few uh's and um's came out. She was right, the book was slated to be released in a few weeks time, but his father, a dear friend of the writer, had given them an early copy, specifically, given Twist a signed copy for his birthday. The book was finished after all, the publishing company just wanted to keep ponies waiting to build up hype. He finally took in a deep breath, calming himself as she lifted an eye brow in confusion at him.

"I'm just a family friend of the author, and he gave me a copy as a gift. I'vealreadyreadit,soyoucanborrowitifyouwanttomaybe?" As soon as he was finished speaking he shut his mouth as tightly as he could, realizing he actually had been speaking in a low shout. A quick sidewards glance around the pool and it seemed almost everypony was looking at him. The three or four ponies in the pool and the obese stallion to his right. He felt his face become incredibly warm. He had never been very good at dealing with strangers, let alone having a small herd of them staring at him. A memory of his younger years flashed through his minds eye, of when he had been seven and been in a play about a fiddler or something, and his costume had ripped, and everypony had laughed. They weren't laughing at the pool, but there collective stare was penetrating into his soul.

Instinct took over, and he closed his book, shoved the spine into his mouth, and bolted. So he looked like a complete idiot, so what? At least he was home free. Just had to get to his hotel room and he could sit in peace and quiet, berate himself for a good hour for being a dolt, and try to salvage his vacation that his family had forced on him...


	2. Chapter 2

How Much Worse Can It Get?

* * *

Lemon Twist bolted upright, the loud ringing of the telephone next to the bed waking him. He plopped back down onto the cool bed, staring at the ceiling as the sun cast shadows in his peripheral vision. He reached a hoof over and picked up the receiver, he was mostly sure he could speak, despite his rude awakening and the desert level dryness in his mouth. Much to his discomfort, the second he spoke on the phone, he sounded like a tired hydra, grumbling 'hello' into the phone.

"Good morning, Mr. Lemon Twist." The happy desk clerk set his blood to boiling. He had been having a rather good dream, about things best left unmentioned, only to have it interrupted by a desk clerk? "We noticed that your breakfast card wasn't collected today, and just wanted you to know that the breakfast buffet is ending in half an hour. We didn't want you to miss out on any of the delectable foods that we serve here, and only here, in the Hocknoi Heaven Hotel. We have-"

"Okay. Thank you. I will be right down. Bye." He spoke rather quickly, cutting her off before she could start listing off every breakfast item they served. He hung up quickly too, and stared at it for a moment, waiting for the phone to ring again and for the clerk to pick up where she left off. Thankfully it remained quiet.

Lemon Twist went to staring at the ceiling for a moment or two more, trying to find the motivation to get out of the comfy bed, go all the way downstairs, and get food that was, at best, slightly lukewarm. His stomach growled and a small twinge of discomforting pain rang through his side. It was motivation enough, and he rolled out of bed. He gracefully picked himself up off the floor, unwrapping himself from the blanket that had coiled around him in his roll, wiped the sleep from his eyes and left his room. The hallway outside was hardly any different then his room, the same red carpet with ancient Zebra artwork haphazardly strewn about it.

It was a hallway though, so unlike his room, it led to an elevator. He walked on, the slight pain in his stomach announcing itself again. Rounding the corner to a little inlet that housed the elevators, he found one to already be open. He quickly stepped in, catching a glimpse of orangish fur out the corner of his eye. His shyness kicked in, and he mumbled to the other guest that he needed to go to the first floor. What he did not expect, was a reply other then 'ok'.

"Ya sure ya don't wanna shove the button in your mouth, an' take off like a fruit bat when the sun's arisin'?" The voice was horrifyingly familiar to him. The Apple Mare. His head locked in place, as a cold sweat formed on his brow. His eyes slowly shifted to the mare, who was standing in the corner, next to the silver panel of buttons, giving him a jovial smile, at his expense of course.

"Uh...No?" He shifted uncomfortably, not knowing what to say or do. The doors slid closed, now making it impossible to flee. Lemon Twist took a deep calming breath. To his dismay, the breath made him even more nervous. He was sure he had just sounded like a drowning victim getting air at the last second.

"So, if you'll mind my sayin' so, we kinda got off on the wrong hoof yesterday. I'm Applejack. Whats your name?" The mare, Applejack, asked. She even offered her hoof. Was this really what it was like talking to fillies?

"LemonTwist." He blurted out, his face felt like it was on fire, "I mean, my names Lemon Twist." He slowly shook her hoof, before quickly pulling it away. He wondered if the Apple family had the same spiteful outlook on the Lemon family, as the Lemon family had for the Apple family. There families really weren't on good terms. It was some sort of rivalry that started when his family had moved to Ponyville decades ago, and as was the Lemon family way, made complete jerks out of themselves and were run off, supposedly at the behest of an Apple Family stallion.

"Lemon Twist, huh? You wouldn't happen to be from Fillydelphia, would you?" Her smile turned into a inquisitive, lopsided grin. Maybe the Apple's weren't so forgiving.

"I am. I'm from the Lemon family orchards." For some reason, saying it felt like a death sentence. She was unfazed.

"Well, what'ya know? I'm the co-owner of Sweet Apple Acres. What are the odds that two fruit pickers like us would end up on the same vacation?" He gave her a nervous, I-don't-know-what-you-want-me-to-say smile. The elevator finally arrived at the first floor, and he knew that it was only a matter of seconds before he would be free of his awkward situation. As he stepped off of the elevator, letting Applejack go first of course, he was about to give her a simple and courteous goodbye, when she beat him to talking first.

"So, I was thinkin about hanging around the beach for a little while. Any chance I might bump into you there?" She gave him another weird smile while putting emphasis on the word 'bump', he couldn't really tell what emotion she was trying to convey. Hope?

"Maybe. I might wonder around if I get bored. I should probably-"

"What if I told ya what my beach towel looks like, so if I'm in the water and ya do decide to wander by?"

"Oh, are you worried its going to get stolen?" She facehoofed at this. What was she trying to say?

"I'm tryin to ask ya if you'd like to meet up at the beach. Ya know, sit around, talk?"

"Oh! Oh. I see what you- I thought that you were- uh. Yes. I think that would be nice." His face felt like it was made out of lava.

"Alright, it might seem mighty obvious, but my towel's red and has a green apple on it. I'm thinking on settin up right across from the hotel. See ya later, Lemon Twist." She turned to go, still smiling.

"Yeah. See you. In a bit." He fidgeted a little, still surprised how it all went. Now just to get some food...


	3. Chapter 3

Hot Sands

Lemon Twist carefully spooned his cereal into his mouth, his mind rather blank and quiet, as he stared at the far wall of the Hocknoi Heaven Hotel Dining Room. The room was a big square, with a blue carpet with more traditional Equestrian pictures. He occasionally glanced at them while he chewed, following the white lines and blocky pictures, each set telling a different- he spat his cereal all over the bowel, and showered half the pristine white table cloth in mushy Fruit Q's. Was he really going to go hang out with Applejack at the beach. That really happened?

He stared at the far wall again, trying to decide on the sincerity of the events. He formulated the facts: 1. Applejack was, hooves down, ridiculously attractive. 2. He was, at best, that cute geeky guy, and that was being liberal. 3. It might have just been some of that good 'ol fashioned southern hospitality. And 4. How did she know about him being from Fillydelphia? He didn't have an accent, so either it was a lucky guess or...He gasped, slamming a hoof down on the table, nearly upsetting his bowl. Grandpa Short Sour had been right! The Apple Family was trying to use there naturally attractive mares to upset the hierarchy of the Lemon Family...or something. Lemon Twist wished for a second he had payed more attention to Grandpa Sour, instead of just writing him off as being paranoid and crazy.

He knew what he had to do, he thought, as he meaningfully slapped one hoof into the other. He would just have to avoid Applejack at all costs. The Lemon Families future depended on it!

Lemon Twist wondered if every secret agent and spy broke out into cold flop sweats every time somepony knocked on the door of his hotel room. He sat across from the door, and with any noise outside of his room, he would hold his breath and wait for it to pass. He had even put a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door, hoping that even room service wouldn't bother to come by. Surely, this meant he had avoided being seduced by Applejack. He knew it was too early to pat himself on the back, there were still seven days left in the vacation, seven days where he could go down for breakfast, and run into her. Where he could go to the bathroom and come back out, the door unlocked and his hat covered in red apple colored lipstick kisses. Where he could look out the window and she could be there, on the beach watching him with a pair of binoculars. Feeling light headed with all the possibility of failure and dooming his family, Twist crossed his cozy little room, to the large windows on the north side, and opened one of them. An immediate pang in his stomach informed him it was doing loops, as he saw Applejack walking up the front steps of the hotel. The need to dry heave into a waste basket was never more powerful then that moment.

Where he normally would have enjoyed his view of the ocean and beach, he brought his hooves up to his head and began to shake violently. 'Oh, no. She's coming back.' She must have figured out that he wasn't going to the beach and was hunting him. But she was not going to corner him, oh no. He was Lemon Twist, he thought to himself as he put his floppy sun hat on, and no pony was going to corner him! Nopony was going to get the best of him!

Lemon Twist felt like he was going to throw up and fly through the roof at the same time, and he had no idea if that was a good thing or not. Either way, he slipped out of his room once more, quickly trotting to the elevator, pressing the buttons for both elevators, and then slipping into the stairwell across the hall. Five floors up was suddenly a daunting exercise, but Twist had a duty. So, he ran as fast he could down five flights of stairs without falling to his death. Finally emerging into the lobby, he assumed that Applejack would have been well on her way up to her own room. As he stepped out of the stair well, he almost ran straight into a mare with a brown stetson and bright orange fur.

"Oops, sorry. Excuse me, Applejack." He muttered, the relief from having given her the slip caused him to not realize who he was walking around.

"Lemon Twist? I thought ya were gonna meet me at the beach? Ya left me waiting..." She was mad. Really mad. As far as Twist, a colt who only talked to mares when he absolutely had too, could tell she was a raging torrent of anger that could probably burn down the entire building with just the rage in her voice. In reality land, Applejack was only a little irked, and was even going to give him a second chance until he did the following.

Twist finally realized who it was, and turned towards his assailant, his head low in a defensive posture, and backing away from her. He was sweating profusely, eyes shifting in every direction, looking for a way out of the situation, and much to his surprise he let the cat out of the bag.

"I'mnotgoingtoletyouuseyourfillywilestodetroymyfamily,sorrythanksbye?" Twice in the span of two days, he got an entire room full of complete strangers to stare at him like he was a raving lunatic. Of course, at this point his only way of escaping was to leave the building entirely, with Applejack blocking the stairs, and the elevators at the top of the building. And flee he did, running at full speed, screaming a little as he ran through the front doors of the hotel.

Applejack scoffed for a second, a little bit of a tight pain in her chest. 'I guess he doesn't remember me. It was years ago.' She hung her head a little, but immediately picked it back up, giving a casual smile to the twenty some ponies standing in the lobby. A weak laugh was all she could do to hide her embarrassment. She moved away from the starring group to the elevators, pressing one of the buttons and sitting on the cool tile of the lobby, waiting for it to arrive. She looked over her shoulder to see that a few were giving her confused looks and talking, turning to pretend like they hadn't as well.

One older mare, standing in line and receiving her room key gave her a sly smile, slowly shaking her head. Applejack turned away, looking back at the elevator doors to see it was stuck on another, higher floor and not coming down for another minute or two. The tell tale sounds of another pony walking up behind her caused her to turn her head again, and as she thought it would be, it was the old mare.

She was a weak gray, with a curly teal mane. "That, darling, was like three train wrecks rolled inta one." She gave Applejack a warm smile, sitting next to her.

"Yep. Felt like one too."

"Pretty bad way for your coltfriend ta break up with ya. Front'a all these strangers."

Applejack laughed, a little of the weight lifted off her back. "He ain't my coltfriend. He was just a colt I knew as a filly. We ran into one another when we were little un's."

"It sounds like it must be an inter-esting story, if ya remembered it for so long. Ya got'a moment to tell it?"

"Well, we were just kids, spending our day watchin' our parent's be busy tryin' ta out cook each other at a contest. We were too young to really help, so we had to sit an' wait in a waitin' room. Well, this other colt, he was kinda older, comes in and starts tryin' to boss us around. Well, Lemon Twist was really shy, so he didn' say anything at first, but this other colt was pretty bossy, and we were intimidated. We did what he said, but he started actin' like a jerk. One of the other fillies said something, and he kinda got rough. I was gonna stop 'em, but Lemon Twist got in the way. He let that other colt hit him instead. At the time, I was so busy worrying about the other filly, I didn' even realize he was tryin' to slap me."

"It was a little fillies crush. A sweet thing, really. But, I take it, ya never really talked to him?" The old mare read her like a book, getting a weak, regretful smile from the younger mare.

"I was kinda shy too. I didn' know what ta say."

"So, years later, ya got the courage and the chance, and ya let it slip away, again?"

"Well...I guess I kinda did. But it ain't all my fault either."

"If your fine with lettin' it slip by again, why the long face?"

Applejack didn't have a response. She did want to get to know Lemon Twist better, but so far it had all been a game of chasing him around.

"I guess, when I recognized him, I just got excited. But, maybe I should try again, anyway. Uh, thanks for the talk."

"Don't mention it, sweetie. Go get him."

And with that, Applejack was off, ready to use her tracking skills to find Lemon Twist and talk some sense into him. If that were possibility...


End file.
